Raikkonen stays cautious for Saturday

"A good day, even if the Friday results have to be considered for what they are, given that we do not know what our main rivals are up to," said the Ferrari driver, who just edged world champion Fernando Alonso is both sessions.

"The car quickly proved to be well balanced, but there is still room to improve the handling.

"The track was very slippery, but luckily, there are plenty of escape roads that any mistakes don't cost a driver anything. I'm expecting a very close fight tomorrow," added the Finn, who trails championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 17 points with only 20 at stake.

Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa was third fastest and the Brazilian was also happy with his day's work.

"We are all very close, given that both in the morning and in the afternoon, the first four in the order were all within around two tenths," he said. "I am happy with the first day of free practice and I hope to continue in the same way for the rest of the weekend.

"We worked a lot on set-up and I think we are on the right track. The track was very dirty and slippery, but it improved over the course of the day."